LONDON — A former Royal Marine who runs an animal charity in Afghanistan said Thursday that he, his Afghan staff and dozens of dogs and cats were caught in the chaotic aftermath of a suicide attack outside Kabul’s airport as they sought to get a flight out of the country before evacuation efforts end.

The attack — involving two explosions and gunfire — hit near a gate where people gathered attempting to get into the airport. At least 13 people were killed, and U.S. officials said American troops were among the injured.

“We’re fine but everything is chaos here at the moment,” Paul “Pen” Farthing told Britain’s Press Association news agency. “All of a sudden we heard gunshots and our vehicle was targeted, had our driver not turned around he would have been shot in the head by a man with an AK-47.”

Farthing is trying to get staff of his Nowzad charity out of Afghanistan, along with about 200 of the group’s rescued animals.

Hours earlier, he appealed to the Taliban to allow the group safe passage into the airport. He tweeted to Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen that “we have been here for 10 hours after being assured that we would have safe passage. Truly would like to go home now.”